Module 1 EducatorÕs Guide Over view - igett.delmar.eduigett.delmar.edu/08/Resources/NASA_Landsat_Intro/TeachWork/...In vestigation 2: What is happening to the Aral Sea? ... tems Characteristics

1

What’s up with

Earth’s water

resources?

Module OverviewThis module addresses issues that are of

fundamental importance to life. Four case

studies of a coastal bay, an inland sea, a river, and mountain snow pack

investigate water resources important to millions of people in North

America, Asia, and Africa. Each investigation focuses on the physical

nature of the resource, how humans depend upon the resource, and how

human use affects the resource creating both problems and opportunities.

Investigation 1: Chesapeake Bay: Resource use or abuse?Students play roles of concerned citizens, public officials, and scientists

while learning about the Chesapeake Bay and its environs. They use data

and satellite images to examine how human actions can degrade, im-

prove, or maintain the quality of the bay in order to make policy recom-

mendations for improving this resource for future use.

Investigation 2: What is happening to the Aral Sea?Students work as teams of NASA geographers using satellite images to

measure the diminishing size of the Aral Sea. Then they analyze and

interpret graphic and tabular data about the causes of the shrinking sea

and its effects on habitat, resources, and people in order to make recom-

mendations for improving this resource for future use.

Investigation 3: The Nile: A sustainable resource?Students analyze data and make graphs to explore the relationship

between population, water resources, water stress, and sustainable

economic development. A simulation of a meeting of the Nile River Basin

Initiative provides students with an opportunity to consider the perspec-

tives of nations within the Nile River Basin.

Investigation 4: Why is snow important in the southwestern UnitedStates?Students role-play U.S. senators from seven western states seeking to

find solutions to important problems in the Southwest: recurrent drought,

which reduces vital snowpack resources; and rapid population growth,

which increases demand on those resources. Information from satellite

images, in tandem with ground-based perspectives, assist students in

playing their roles as senators seeking to make recommendations on

these problems.

Geography Standards

World in Spatial Terms• Standard 1: How to use maps and

other geographic representations,

tools, and technologies to acquire,

process, and report information

from a spatial perspective

Places and Regions• Standard 4: The physical and

human characteristics of places

Physical Systems• Standard 7: The physical pro-

cesses that shape the patterns of

Earth’s surface

• Standard 8: Characteristics and

distribution of ecosystems

Environment and Society• Standard 14: How humans modify

the physical environment

• Standard 15: How physical

systems affect human systems

The Uses of Geography• Standard 18: How to apply

geography to interpret the present

and plan for the future

Science Standards

Unifying Concepts and Processes• Systems, order, and organization

• Evidence, models, and explanation

• Evolution and equilibrium

Science as Inquiry• Abilities necessary to do scientific

inquiry

Life Science• Structure and function in living

systems

• Populations and ecosystems

Earth and Space Science• Structure of the Earth system

Science and Technology• Understandings about science and

technology

Science in Personal and SocialPerspectives

• Risks and benefits

• Science and technology in society

History and Nature of Science• Science as a human endeavor

Module 1 Educator’s Guide Overview

2

Mathematics Standards

Number and Operation• Compute fluently and make

reasonable estimates

Algebra• Understand patterns, relations, and

functions

• Analyze change in various contexts

Measurement• Understand measurable attributes

of objects and the units, systems,

and processes of measurement

• Apply appropriate techniques, tools,

and formulas to determine mea-

surements

Data Analysis and Probability• Formulate questions that can be

addressed with data, and collect,

organize, and display relevant data

to answer them

• Develop and evaluate inferences

and predictions that are based on

data

Communication• Communicate mathematical

thinking coherently and clearly to

peers, teachers, and others

• Analyze and evaluate the math-

ematical thinking and strategies of

others

Connections• Recognize and apply mathematics

in contexts outside of mathematics

Representation• Create and use representations to

organize, record, and communicate

mathematical ideas

• Use representations to model and

interpret physical, social, and

mathematical phenomena

Technological Literacy

Standards

Nature of Technology• Standard 3: Relationships among

technologies and the connection

between technology and other

fields

Technology and Society• Standard 4: The cultural, social,

economic, and political effects of

technology

Abilities for a Technological World• Standard 13: Assess the impact of

products and systems

Module 1 Educator’s Guide Overview

Connection to the Curriculum“What’s up with Earth’s water resources?” provides an instructional unit—

about a month in length—that can be integrated, either in whole or in part,

into high school courses in world geography, environmental geography,

regional geography (of North America, of Africa, and of Asia), earth

science, and global studies. The materials support instruction about

aquatic and terrestrial habitats and ecosystems, as well as the dynamic

interactions between physical and human environmental changes at both

local and regional scales. Connections to mathematics skills are easily

made because the materials require students to work with a large amount

of quantitative data in graphic and tabular form.

TimeInvestigation 1: Four to five 45-minute sessions

Investigation 2: Five to eight 45-minute sessions

Investigation 3: One to two 45-minute sessions

Investigation 4: Five to nine 45-minute sessions

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Chesapeake Bay:

Resource use or

abuse?

Investigation OverviewStudents play roles of concerned citizens, public

officials, regional planners, and scientists to explore

the Chesapeake Bay and its environs. They use data and satellite images

to examine how human actions can degrade, improve, or maintain the

quality of this water resource in order to make policy recommendations for

improving the resource for future use.

Time required: Four to five 45-minute sessions

Materials/ResourcesBriefing (one copy per student)

Handout 1: Roles (one role card for each of 10 students)

Handout 2: Testimony Points (one copy for three-four investigators)

Handout 3: Regional Planner Instructions (one copy for each student in

class)

Computer station(s) with Internet access (optional)

Content PreviewHuman action in the sensitive, highly interdependent Chesapeake Bay

ecosystem has led to environmental degradation during the past century.

Land use changes related to deforestation, agricultural use of fertilizers,

and urbanization have led to increases in sediments and pollutants flowing

into the bay. Natural climate cycles, periods of drought for example,

exaggerate the effects of human action on the bay.

Classroom ProceduresBeginning the Investigation1. Conduct a discussion on water as a resource. Ask these questions:

• How do we use it? (Drinking, transportation, recreation, industry.)

• What are some ways that water quality is affected by natural pro-

cesses? (Drought affects flow of fresh water; storms affect amount ofsediment and water flow.)

• What are some ways water quality is affected by human actions and

processes? (Pollution from industry, run off, and sewage, diversion/reduction of feeder streams/rivers, sedimentation, destruction/develop-ment of wetlands.)

Relate these issues to water resources in your region.

Geography Standards

Standard 1: The World inSpatial Terms

How to use maps and othergeographic representations,tools, and technologies to ac-quire, process, and report infor-mation from a spatial perspective

• Produce and interpret maps and

other graphic representations to

solve geographic problems.

Standard 8: Physical Sys-tems

Characteristics and distributionof ecosystems

• Apply the concept of ecosystems to

understand and solve problems

regarding environmental issues.

Standard 14: Environmentand Society

How humans modify the physicalenvironment

• Develop possible solutions to

scenarios of environmental change

induced by human modification of

the physical environment.

Geography SkillsSkill Set 5: Answering Geo-graphic Questions

• Formulate valid generalizations

from the results of various kinds of

geographic inquiry.

Module 1 Educator’sGuide Investigation 1

4

Module 1 Educator’s Guide Investigation 1

2. Explain that water is such a key resource that

citizens and scientists often join forces to ensure

the quality and supply of water. This investigation

focuses on how this has occurred in Chesapeake

Bay.

3. Have students locate Chesapeake Bay and the

watersheds that drain into the bay. Ask them to

note the major cities in the Chesapeake Bay River

Basin. Resources for students to use to situate

Chesapeake Bay are listed in the Briefing.

Developing the Investigation4. Distribute the Briefing. Ask students to read the

entire Briefing but assign a few specific paragraphs

to groups of three or four. Ask each group of

students to generate several questions, summarize

their assigned reading, and take turns asking and

answering questions.

5. Explain the premise of the role playing:

• A public forum will be broadcast on public

television moderated by the League of Women

Voters under the auspices of the federal govern-

ment.

• The purpose of the forum is to give citizens and

scientists the opportunity to voice their opinions

on key issues related to Chesapeake Bay, to

collect information, and to begin to develop a

sustainable policy to preserve and maintain the

integrity of this national resource.

• Students play a role representing individuals

involved in exploring the uses and abuses of

Chesapeake Bay, one of the United States’ most

significant water resources.

6. Briefly explain the format for the role playing.

• Ten individuals (concerned citizens, public

officials, scientists) testify before the hearing.

They are questioned by a team of three or four

invited investigators. All students are regionalplanners. They may ask questions of witnesses

and will write a draft statement recommending

future policies based on the testimony they hear.

• Role summaries for each individual are provided

(Handout 1). These are in the form of questions

that may be asked of each role player during the

testimony. Students learn their role and develop

answers to the questions by reading and dis-

cussing the Handout.

• The investigators (three or four students) receive

the list of questions each role player is prepared

to answer (Handout 1) and the points that they

should have each testifier make (Handout 2).

They must sequence the presenters and ques-

tions to ensure the points are made effectively

and logically.

• The regional planners (all students when not

role playing) keep a summary of points made

and draft the policy statement and justification

for it after hearing the testimony.

7. Seek volunteers for each role and distribute the

role cards (Handout 1). Each student must find the

answers to the questions from the Briefing and

assume the character. Require presenters to

prepare a visual (for example, a map, diagram,

overhead of images appearing in the Briefing,

graphs made from additional data obtained by

researching the suggested resources) to support

their testimony. For example:

• Susan Elliott: a diagram to show the local, state,

and federal agencies that have cooperated to

study the bay

• Fred Kyle: a system diagram showing changes

in sea grass, fin fish, oysters, and crabs over the

past 100 years

• Pam Gibbons: LANDSAT images and maps to

show population growth in the region

• Chris Sprinski: a graphic to illustrate the role of

excess nutrients in water and air causing

degradation of the bay

• Georgina Giovingo: pictures of her husband

fishing on the bay

• Phil Klein: a graphic describing how sediments

flow into the bay

• Kristin Hyche: a graphic illustrating the role

climate plays in the bay ecosystem

• LeVar Jenks: a graphic showing the relation-

ships among agriculture, industrialization, and

urbanization and bay health and productivity

• Evalia Tweedle: see role card

• Steve Sui: copies of the AVIRIS, SeaWIFS, and

LANDSAT images

You may wish to have two-person teams for each

individual role to facilitate the preparation of the

graphic.

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Module 1 Educator’s Guide Investigation 1

8. Distribute the list of roles and questions (Handouts

1 and 2) to the investigators. Allow them to divide

the questions among themselves and to coordinate

a strategy to ensure they are efficient and logical in

their questioning.

9. Distribute directions to the regional planners

(Handout 3). Explain that all students will contribute

to the preparation of the policy recommendations.

While some students prepare for and present the

testimony, others will need to listen carefully, take

notes, and synthesize and evaluate the testimony

to form policy recommendations later. All students

may ask questions. Decide on a format for the

policy recommendations.

10. Have participants make name tags for themselves.

Check that students are comfortable with their

roles. Arrange the room in a town forum setting.

Developing the Investigation11. Begin the role play. You may wish to act as mod-

erator Susan Elliott or ask a student to play the

role. Susan Elliott calls the forum to order, explains

its purpose, and introduces the team of investiga-

tors. The investigators proceed by calling the

concerned citizens and scientists to testify in any

order they wish. Continue through the testimony. At

close, request that the regional planners (all

students) draft a policy statement.

Concluding the Investigation12. Debrief the town forum.

• Review the points presented by the individuals,

the major concerns, and key issues.

• Give students time to meet as regional planners

and draft a policy to preserve and maintain the

integrity of Chesapeake Bay. When they are

finished, ask for a summary.

• Discuss it. How well does the policy reflect a

new understanding of the natural and human

processes that affect water quality and use?

What would be the long-term impact of such a

policy? Who would be most affected? Least

affected? Would it work? Ask students to make

generalizations about water resources in

densely populated regions of the world as well

as in your region of the United States.

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Module 1 Educator’s Guide, Handout 1: Roles Investigation 1

Susan Elliott

You are the president of the League of Women Voters. Because of its impartiality, your organization has been

asked to sponsor a town forum on Chesapeake Bay. You are moderating the forum.

As moderator you should

• state the purpose of the town forum and provide some background (see the Questions listed below);

• introduce the investigators, citizens, and scientists;

• ensure that order is maintained and that everyone is polite and has an opportunity to speak; and

• remind all participants that they will, as regional planners, develop a policy to preserve and maintain

the health of Chesapeake Bay.

Questions You May Be Asked• Why is water important?

• How is water used?

• Why have many local, state, and federal agencies cooperated to study the bay?

• How successful have such partnerships of citizens and scientists been in setting environmental policies?

Fred Kyle

You are 44 years old and a concerned citizen employed by a high technology company outside of Washing-

ton, D.C. You and your family have lived near Chesapeake Bay in Virginia for generations and love it for its

beauty and recreation opportunities. You enjoy taking your children on the water and someday hope to take

your grandchildren but are worried about the degradation of the bay’s water you have observed.

Questions You May Be Asked

• What is your name, where do you live, and what is your occupation?

• How has Chesapeake Bay changed in the past 100 years in terms of sea grasses, fin fish, oysters, and

crabs?

• When did you first become concerned with the health and quality of the bay?

Pam Gibbons

You are 28 years old and have just completed a master’s degree in geography at the University of Maryland.

Your first job is working for the state of Maryland doing long-range land use planning. Your research focuses

on land use change in the Chesapeake, and you are considered an expert on the topic.



• What river basins flow into the Chesapeake?

• What are some ways that the Chesapeake has changed over the last few decades?

• What factors have caused these changes?

• What are the likely population trends in this area in the next 20 years?

• How will population affect land use?

• What role does sedimentation play in affecting the health of the bay?

• From your studies, what are the effects of land use and population change on the bay?

• What tools/images can you use to help in planning?

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Chris Sprinski

You are in your mid-30s and a lifelong environmentalist. You have worked for several nonprofit organizations

devoted to preserving the environment. In college you majored in biology with an emphasis in marine sci-

ences but took environmental science courses as well. Currently you serve as a consultant to the Friends of

Chesapeake Bay, a nongovernmental organization funded by private donations.



• What is the current model for bay ecosystem management?

• From your studies, what are the effects of land use and population change on the bay?

• What is the role that excess nutrients in water and air play in causing degradation in the bay? Please

explain what happens step by step, beginning with algal blooms.

Georgina Giovingo

You are in your late 50s and have been a widow for a year. You and your husband made your living fishing

the Chesapeake. Most of your limited income was made harvesting blue crabs. Your late husband, Dave, died

of a mysterious infection possibly related to contamination from the waters of the bay. You are clearly upset

about the degradation of the bay, the decline in fish, oysters, and crabs, and the loss of recreational value of

the bay. You cannot contribute scientific information, but you show the forum that many people care passion-

ately about the bay and rely upon it for their livelihood.



• How important is fishing to the economic well being of people in the Chesapeake region and the nation?

• From your experiences of fishing the bay for 30 years, how has the bay changed?

• Why do you think it is important to develop a policy to preserve and maintain the bay?

Phil Klein

You are a legislative aide assigned to the governor of the state of Maryland. You have three young children

and live close to your office in Annapolis, the capital. You are an expert in the development of environmental

policy and environmental law and act as the governor’s liaison on Chesapeake issues, which includes attend-

ing meetings of the Chesapeake Bay Program. The governor has asked you to make sure that the state of

Maryland is not responsible for causing damage to one of its key resources, Chesapeake Bay.



• What is the mission of the Chesapeake Bay Program?

• What actions have been taken or programs put in place related to the Chesapeake’s health and well-

being?

• How much sediment enters the bay from Maryland?

• What action has the state taken to affect the amount of sedimentation?

8


Professor Kristin Hyche

You are a professor at the University of Delaware specializing in climatology and hydrology in the Department

of Geography. You study bay ecosystems from a geographic perspective, looking at the interactions between

human and natural processes. You live in Newark, Delaware.



• How does the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem function?

• What role does climate play in the ecosystem? What are some of the effects of climate change on the

health of the bay?

• How have policies to preserve the bay been helpful? For example, have subaquatic grasses returned in

some bay tributaries?

• What are the causes of the changes observed in the bay in discharge, sea grasses, and blue crabs?

• Which of these are caused by natural processes and which by human actions? Explain.

LeVar Jenks

You are a research scientist with the USGS assigned to the Chesapeake Ecosystem Response Project. You

grew up in innercity Baltimore and, as a young boy, loved to fish the bay with your grandfather and cousins.

That inspired you to study the environment and to pursue a geology degree in college. You specialize in the

geochemical analysis of sediments and worked hard to be assigned to the project. You are in your early 40s

and live in a Maryland suburb of Washington, D.C. You are also a history buff interested in the way of life of

your ancestors, enslaved persons in Virginia and Maryland.



• What is the Chesapeake Ecosystem Response Project? What is the project investigating?

• What methods are being used?

• Why is the project investigating the impacts of agriculture, industrialization, and urbanization at different

periods of time? What role do they play in bay conditions?

• Do you have any research results to report yet?

• In your professional opinion, which do you think is having a greater impact on the bay, human processes

or natural processes? Why?

9


Evalia Tweedle

Your training as a classroom educator prepared you well for your current administrative position with the

Public Affairs Office of the EPA in Washington, D.C., where you also live, sharing a house with five other

recent college graduates. You primarily work to heighten public awareness and understanding of key scien-

tific and environmental issues. Since you were an educator and work with the public a great deal, you come to

the forum prepared with teaching tools to present what you feel are key ideas that will contribute to the

forum’s success.



• What is the difference between point and nonpoint source pollution?

• What are some of the key sources of pollution?

• What are some strategies the EPA suggests home owners adopt to lessen their impact on the environ-

ment in general?

• How important is this kind of recommendation for people who live in the Chesapeake Bay watershed?

• What tools and resources can help EPA understand and control sources of pollution?

Steve Sui

You are employed as a research scientist specializing in remote sensing at NASA’s Ames Research Center

located near San Jose, California. You live close to San Francisco Bay and thus became interested in the

Chesapeake Bay Project. You have worked closely with Phil Klein in the past; he invited you to participate in

the forum. Your expertise is in using AVIRIS to remotely sense Earth, particularly its oceans. You are also

expert in SeaWIFS, a sensing system to observe the world’s oceans and monitor ecosystem change. You

think you may be asked to explain two images produced by these sensors and plan to come prepared.



• How did you become involved with the Chesapeake Bay Project?

• What is AVIRIS?

• How was it used to monitor Chesapeake Bay? What was the end result?

• Can you draw any conclusions about the health of the bay from the map that was produced?

• What is SeaWIFS? What is it being used for?

• What is LANDSAT? What is it being used for and by whom?

• What do the colors on the image of Chesapeake Bay indicate?

• Discuss the usefulness of remote sensing for tracking changes on Earth?

10

Module 1 Educator’s Guide, Handout 2: Testimony Points Investigation 1

Handout 2: Investigator’sPoints That Each Witness Should MakeSusan Elliott

• Water is important to human health and all its

endeavors. It is equally important to other living

creatures in the ecosystem upon which humans

depend. It has a variety of uses, including

transportation, irrigation, recreation, industry,

and fishing.

• Chesapeake Bay is the nation’s largest and one

of the world’s most productive estuaries.

• Chesapeake Bay is an important resource to

many people in six states who live in urban,

suburban, and rural areas. A watershed is a

complex system. It requires the cooperation of

many agencies at different scales to address

watershed-wide issues because the boundaries

of governmental jurisdictions do not match the

boundaries of watersheds.

Pam Gibbons

• Nine river systems flow into the bay. They are

the Susquehanna, the Potomac, the Patuxent,

the Choptank, the Rappahannock, the

Mattaponi, the Pamunkey, the James, and the

Appomattox.

• Human activities play a role in the degradation

of the bay. Changes in how people use the land

(land use change) are the major culprits, includ-

ing deforestation, urban development, and

expansion of agricultural land. As population

grows, forests are cut and land cleared to build

houses, malls, and businesses. Agriculture

expands into new areas to feed the growing

population. More people produce more sewage

and pollution. When it rains, exposed dirt

(sediments) disrupted by human activity washes

into the bay.

• The population will continue to grow in this

already densely populated region of the nation,

and land use changes will continue. There are

about 18 million people living in the area now.

• Sediments cloud the bay water so much that

subaquatic vegetation like sea grasses cannot

survive.

• Land cover maps and images like the one from

LANDSAT 7 are used to estimate polluted water

runoff. Remote sensing is an important tool.

LeVar Jenks

• The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Chesa-

peake Ecosystem Response Project is designed

to improve understanding of large-scale environ-

mental changes that influence water quality and

living resources in the Chesapeake Bay. In

particular, project workers investigate the links

among changes in climate, precipitation, dis-

charge, salinity, and dissolved oxygen over

different time periods.

• The human factors that most affect these natural

factors are industrialization, agricultural prac-

tices, and urban development.

• USGS scientists and other researchers are

collaborating to study the bay’s sediments,

which capture the history of its water, plants, and

animals during the period before monitoring

began in the 1980s. Using ecosystem “indica-

tors” (microfossils), geochemical data preserved

in the bay’s sediment, and historical and recon-

structed discharge data, we have reconstructed

trends and responses in the bay since 1950 to

determine the natural conditions in the bay over

the last few millennia, including periods prior to

17th-18th century colonial agriculture and 19th-

20th century industrialization and urbanization.

The emphasis has been on separating natural

versus human causes of and responses to

extreme events.

Evalia Tweedle

• Point pollution is pollution coming from a known,

identifiable source, such as a pipeline spewing

waste. Nonpoint source pollution is pollution that

enters surface, ground water, and the oceans

from widespread and distant activities, that is,

from no one, single point.

• The key sources of nonpoint source pollution are

agriculture and livestock, urban runoff, automo-

biles, land clearing, sewage, factories producing

air pollution, and industrial waste.

• The EPA suggests homeowners manage

hazardous waste carefully. Householders need

to be aware that they have an impact on the

environment when they dump chemicals down

the drain.

• This advice is especially important for the

millions of people that live in the Chesapeake

watershed. Something placed onto the ground

anywhere in the region ultimately affects the

health of the bay.

• Remote sensing is helping us to better pinpoint

the sources of polluted runoff.

11

Chris Sprinski

• The model is the system. All elements of the

various systems present in the bay are linked,

connected, and affect the other elements.

Everything is interrelated; managing just one

system element will not necessarily cause

positive changes throughout the system.

• Land use and population changes increase the

amount of agricultural fertilizers and urban

sewage treatment plants, which cause increased

phosphorus and nitrogen loading in surface and

ground water.

• Excess nutrients from water and air can lead to

an increase in algal blooms, reduced dissolved

oxygen levels on the bottom, habitat degrada-

tion, and depleted living resources.

• Algal blooms can reduce the clarity of the water,

which prevents sunlight from penetrating to the

bottom and thus inhibiting the growth of sea

grasses or subaquatic vegetation (SAV). SAV is

important because it helps absorb nutrients,

adds oxygen to the water, and provides a

sheltered habitat for organisms, especially

juvenile blue crabs. It is also a food source for

water birds living in the bay.

Georgina Giovingo

• The bay provides 50 percent of the nation’s blue

crab harvest, worth about $130 million per year.

There are many people who make their living by

fishing and many more who make their living

serving the needs of recreational boaters,

birders, and beach goers in the region.

• The bay is not as clean as it once was. There

are fewer fish and shell fish. Sometimes there

are algal blooms that make people sick. The

water is not as clear as it was. More people live

around the bay now. There are fewer birds

because there are fewer fish.

• People’s livelihoods depend on the health of the

bay.


Professor Kristin Hyche

• Ecosystem function is very complex, and there

are gaps in our understanding of the relation-

ships among river discharge into the bay, the

amount of oxygen dissolved in the water, and

aquatic grasses.

• We have better tools now, like the data and

images obtained through remote sensing, to

measure nutrients in the bay.

• The amount of rainfall affects the freshwater

discharge entering the bay. In recent years,

fluctuating climate patterns have made this

relationship especially evident. The amount of

fresh water changes the nutrients entering the

bay and the salinity of the water. These factors

in turn influence how bay phytoplankton use the

nutrients and thus, oxygen levels in the water.

• Historical trends, for example comparing the

drought years of the 1950s and 1960s to later

decades, indicate the importance of climate to

bay health.

• Aquatic grasses have returned in some areas

and not others. We do not yet know precisely

what works and what does not work to repair

environmental damage. The factors of habitat

change, overharvesting, natural mortality, and

climate change all play varying roles.

• The bay ecosystem is very complex, and little is

known about the relations among species and

their environment and climate change. It is also

difficult to separate human and natural effects.

12


Phil Klein

• The Chesapeake Bay Program (CBP) was

formed in 1983 as a regional cooperative effort

between the U.S. Environmental Protection

Agency and various state and local governments

of the bay watershed including the states of

Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, the

District of Columbia, and the Chesapeake Bay

Commission.

• Its primary mission is restoration of living

resources, including fish, shellfish, bay grasses,

and other aquatic wildlife of the nation’s largest

and one of the world’s most productive estuar-

ies.

• The Chesapeake Bay Program monitors water

quality and biotic resources in order to assess

the bay’s ecological health on a regular basis

and to produce computer models to predict

watershed quality and ecosystem response to

nutrient loading.

• The CBP routinely conducts an ongoing ship-

based monitoring program to collect in situmeasurements of physical, chemical, and

biological indicators of the bay’s health. The

CBP is evaluating the use of remote sensing as

an adjunct to the monitoring program, with the

idea that highly accurate point measurements

may be used in conjunction with appropriately

processed imagery to generate a spatial dataset

of water quality.

• About 155 million metric tons of sediment have

entered the bay in the last 100 years from the

state of Maryland alone. That is a serious

problem.

• Biological resource management plans have

been developed to restore and preserve key

species for commercial and recreational use.

Fred Kyle

• The bay has degraded seriously in the last 100

years. Sea grass acreage has declined. There

are fewer fish and shell fish, particularly blue

crab for which the bay is famous. The amount of

dissolved oxygen has decreased, and more soil

is washing into the bay.

• The changes really became noticeable in the

1970s when the commercial fishermen started to

notice declines in fish, and recreational users

became aware of reduced water quality.

Steve Sui

• A NASA experiment showed the utility of remote

sensing in monitoring the Chesapeake Bay

watershed. A sensing device known as AVIRIS

was flown over the southern part of the bay to

measure the amount of chlorophyll and sedi-

ments in the waters.

• AVIRIS is an acronym for the Airborne Visible

InfraRed Imaging Spectrometer. It is a remote-

sensing instrument that flies aboard a NASA ER-

2 airplane approximately 20 kilometers above

sea level. It is used to identify, measure, and

monitor constituents of Earth’s surface and

atmosphere. Research with AVIRIS is directed

towards understanding processes related to the

global environment and climate change.

• SeaWiFS is a sensor mounted on a satellite

that observes Earth from a noontime sun-

synchronous orbit, which means that the sensor

is always viewing Earth around local noon at an

altitude of 705 kilometers. This orbit provides

data to detect concentrations of microscopic

green plants, called phytoplankton, which live

just beneath the ocean surface. These green

plants absorb sunlight during photosynthesis,

the most basic and essential chemical process

necessary for life on Earth.

• The red colors show high concentrations of

chlorophyll in the water, the yellows/greens

indicate intermediate concentrations of chloro-

phyll, and the blues/purples show low concentra-

tions of chlorophyll.

• In the image of Chesapeake Bay, ocean pat-

terns are clearly evident, such as plumes of

material discharging out of eastern Long Island

Sound. Red and yellow areas in Chesapeake

Bay indicate turbid waters while the blue hues

offshore represent clear oceanic water.

• LANDSAT is a satellite that picks up information

particularly related to land cover such as pas-

ture, crop lands, different types of forest and

wetlands, and types of residential land uses. It is

very useful for local and regional planning

agencies.

13

Module 1 Educator’s Guide, Handout 3: Regional Planner Instructions Investigation 1

Instructions to Regional Planners

You are a planner on the Chesapeake Bay regional planning council. Prior to the town forum, summarize the

situation in the Chesapeake in the space provided.

The Situation

The Town Forum

The purpose of the town forum is to collect information about the bay from different points of view. Everyone at

this meeting is in favor of taking action to “save the bay.” Your job will be to make recommendations to develop a

sustainable policy to preserve and maintain the health of the bay.

During the forum, investigators will call a series of concerned citizens, local and state government officials, and

scientists to give testimony about the bay. You will listen to the testimony and take notes summarizing the points

each individual makes. As you listen, synthesize and evaluate the testimony. You will need the information to decide

policy later. You may ask questions to clarify a point, but in general you should leave that to the investigators.

Writing the Policy

Your work really begins with the end of the forum when you develop the recommendations. Summarize your

findings based on the testimony, and then make at least three specific recommendations to preserve and restore

the bay.

14

Module 1, Investigation 1: Briefing

Chesapeake Bay: Resource use or abuse?

1

Figure 1: Location of Chesapeake Bay andthe river systems that flow into itSource: http://mapping.usgs.gov/mac/chesbay/overview_cbep_fig1.html

How do natural processes and human actions

affect the Chesapeake Bay as a water resource?

BackgroundWater is essential to life on Earth. Three-quarters

of Earth’s surface is covered by water. Because it

is almost everywhere, we sometimes take it for

granted, but we do things that affect its quality and

quantity. This briefing shows how human actions

have combined with natural processes to affect

Chesapeake Bay, one of the United States’ most

significant water resources.

Because Chesapeake Bay is such an important

resource, many citizens and government agencies

are concerned about its present and future status.

Several federal, state, and local organizations and

agencies have combined their efforts to study the

bay in order to provide ideas and programs to

ensure its future health.

NASA, USGS, EPA, and NOAA are federal

agencies doing this research. Three NASA

missions have contributed data to bay studies:

SeaWiFS (Sea-Viewing Wide Field-of-view

Sensor), AVIRIS (Airborne Visible InfraRed

Imaging Spectrometer), and LANDSAT 7. The

data gathered from SeaWiFS and AVIRIS have

contributed to a better understanding of the ability

of the bay to support plant and animal life. The

data produced by LANDSAT 7 allow smarter land

use planning and better estimates of polluted

water runoff across the 110,000 square kilometer

Chesapeake Bay watershed.

Chesapeake Bay is located in the northeastern

United States in the most densely populated region

of the nation. Figure 1 indicates its location and the

river systems that flow into the bay. Turn to Figure

6 to see the land use in this highly industrialized,

highly urbanized region.

Ecosystem Trends andResponse: Chesapeake Bay

The Nation’s Largest EstuaryChesapeake Bay, the nation’s largest

estuary, has had serious environmental

degradation during the past century. The

evidence of damage includes declines in

sea grass acreage, reduction of fin fish and

shellfish (oysters and crab), seasonal

depletions of dissolved oxygen, and

increases in sedimentation.

These changes raised serious concern in

the 1970s because they threatened major

commercial and recreational activities.

Most scientists attribute these changes, at

least indirectly, to human activities. Land

use changes in the bay watershed (defor-

estation, agriculture, and urbanization)

brought added pollution and sewage.

Future stress on bay ecosystems is likely to

worsen, as the Chesapeake Bay Commis-

sion predicts that the population in the bay

watershed will swell to over 18 million by

the year 2020.

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Critical Issues for EcosystemManagement and RestorationChesapeake Bay is a complex

natural ecosystem with many inter-

related human and natural sub-

systems. Changes in each sub-

system ripple through others, causing

various effects. Ecosystems recycle

chemicals needed by living things,

redistribute wastes, control pests that

cause disease in both humans and

plants and animals, and offer a huge

pool of resources for humans and

other living creatures. Ecosystems

are affected by natural events such

as droughts. But ecosystems are

more drastically changed by human

activities.

The model used for bay ecosystem

management is a system which

shows links among land, sea, and

living creatures that result in changes in the

watershed affecting the bay. For example:

• Land use and population changes increase the

amount of agricultural fertilizers and urban

sewage treatment plants, which cause increased

phosphorus and nitrogen loading in surface and

ground water.

• Excess nutrients from water and air can lead to

an increase in algal blooms, reduced dissolved

oxygen levels on the bottom, habitat degrada-

tion, and depleted living resources.

• Algal blooms can reduce the clarity of the water,

which prevents sunlight from penetrating to the

bottom and can inhibit the growth of sea grasses

or subaquatic vegetation (SAV).

• Subaquatic vegetation helps absorb nutrients,

adds oxygen to the water, and provides a

sheltered habitat for organisms, especially

juvenile blue crabs. It is also a food source for

water birds living in the bay.

• Sedimentation is another critical problem. Over

the last 100 years, 155 million metric tons of

sediment were deposited in the Maryland portion

of the bay. Sedimentation rates have increased

since colonial times because of land use

changes. Sediment can cloud the water so much

that SAV cannot survive.

Causes of Recent Trends in Dissolved Oxygenand SAVFluctuations in the amount of freshwater entering

the bay from its tributary rivers (termed discharge)

result from changing precipitation patterns over the

last few decades (Figure 2). Recently, these fluctua-

tions have become extreme. Trend data show the

influence of discharge on the total nutrients entering

the bay and on bay salinity. These influence phy-

toplankton growth and oxygen levels. Climatic

factors play a role in controlling water quality. For

example, the drought years of the 1950s and 1960s

caused low tributary discharge into the bay.

Bay restoration efforts began in the early 1980s.

Surveys have indicated that sea grasses have

begun to grow again in several tributaries of the bay.

In theory, this reflects a response to improved water

quality. But there were areas where subaquatic

vegetation (SAV) did not return despite improved

water quality. This continued absence of SAV

concerns scientists and resource managers, in part

because SAV provides habitat for young blue crabs.

The bay provides 50 percent of the nation’s total

blue crab harvest. The bay crab harvest was worth

$126.6 million in 1993. Chesapeake Bay is a

significant source of fish and shellfish.

Figure 2Source: http://geochange.er.usgs.gov/pub/info/facts/chesapeake/graph.gif

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A Complex System

What do recent trends in discharge, anoxia (too

little oxygen in the water), sea grasses, and blue

crabs mean? Are they caused by habitat change,

overharvesting, or natural mortality related to long-

term climatic factors? These questions remind us

of how complex the bay ecosystem is and of how

little we know about the relations among individual

species, their environment, and climate. They also

illustrate how difficult it is for scientists to separate

natural versus human effects on critical species

and their habitats based solely on monitoring.

Detection of a trend can be easy, but assigning

cause is much more difficult.

Cross-country SourcesSide Effects Spread from Land to Sea

Identifying a water polluter is easy when the source

of the pollution is a single point, such as a single

pipeline spewing wastes. But it’s not so simple

when you consider nonpoint source pollution,

which comes from nearly everything we do on land

that contributes to polluted runoff that enters

surface and ground water, as well as oceans. It can

lead to beach and shellfish-bed closings and

spoiled habitats for fish and other aquatic life.

Below are some of the sources of pollution entering

the bay.

Agriculture and LivestockRunoff from barnyards, feedlots, and cropland

contributes nutrients from manure and fertilizers, as

well as pesticides and eroded soil.

Urban RunoffUrban runoff from buildings and paved surfaces

carries sediment, nutrients, bacteria, oil, trace

metals, chemicals, road salt, pet droppings, and

litter.

AutomobilesLeaking oil and motor fluids run off roadways and

into waterways. Emissions send nitrogen and other

contaminants into the atmosphere that eventually

settle into coastal waters.

Land ClearingConstruction, clearing land, and logging often lead

to soil erosion, putting more sediment in rivers and

coastal waters. Filling in wetlands takes away vast

natural water filters that can break down many

common pollutants before they reach other water

bodies.

SewageSewage, leached from faulty septic systems, or

dumped directly overboard instead of emptied at

boat pump-out stations, contributes nutrients and

disease-causing organisms.

Air PollutionAirborne pollutants, chiefly from factories and

automobiles, are responsible for almost a third of

all contaminants and nutrients entering marine

waters.

Industrial WasteIndustrial runoff brings heavy metals and other

compounds into marine waters, from industrial-

waste landfills, from mining, and from storm water

draining off of industrial sites.

Warning Signs

Too Many Nutrients Lead to Too Little OxygenToo much nitrogen (from fertilizers, sewage, feedlot

runoff, or air pollution), or too much phosphorus

(from the same sources, as well as detergents or

water-treatment chemicals), can set off explosive

growth of algae and aquatic plants. As the over-

populated plants and algae die off, bacteria can

deplete oxygen from the water as they decompose

the dead plants. Lack of oxygen kills fish and other

animals.

Managing Hazardous Waste Hits HomeMany products for home and garden can burn,

explode, corrode, or poison. Dumped down the

drain, onto the ground, or into the trash, they can

pollute water, pose health risks, and damage

water-treatment systems. Since 1980, thousands of

community programs have begun to collect house-

hold hazardous waste.

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Get a Handle on Household HazardsTo cut your “pollution contribution,” use fewer

hazardous or unsafe products if you can. If you

can’t, use only as much as you need; share

leftovers with neighbors, businesses, or charities;

and dispose of leftovers safely.

Chesapeake Bay’s Health Depends onthe Kindness of Many Strangers

The bay’s watershed covers six states and the

District of Columbia. It drains 150 rivers and

streams—an enormous catchall for urban, subur-

ban, and agricultural pollution. Environmental

problems often occur over large areas that fall into

the control of more than one governmental unit.

For this reason, a landmark 1983 agreement

formed the Chesapeake Bay Program (CBP).

The Chesapeake Bay Program is a partnership

between the U.S. Environmental Protection

Agency, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, the

District of Columbia, the Chesapeake Bay Com-

mission, and local governments of the bay water-

shed. The program has helped reduce nutrient

pollution from farming and livestock, banned

phosphate detergents and tributyl-tin boat paints,

and protected ecologically sensitive shorelines.

The Chesapeake Bay Program

• aims to restore living resources, including fish,

shellfish, bay grasses, and other aquatic wildlife;

• monitors water quality and biotic resources;

• produces computer models to predict watershed

quality and ecosystem response to nutrient

loading;

• used modeling studies to establish a goal of a

40 percent reduction from 1985 levels of nutrient

input into the bay by 2000;

• developed biotic management plans to restore

and preserve key species for commercial use

and recreation; and

• conducts ship-based monitoring to collect

measurements of physical, chemical, and

biological indicators.

Taking Action: Research, Response,and Management

The U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) Chesapeake

Ecosystem Response Project is another effort to

understand large environmental changes influenc-

ing the water quality and living resources in the

bay. In particular, the project scientists

• investigate links among changes in climate,

discharge, salinity, and dissolved oxygen over

different time periods and geographical scales;

• study the effects of past events recorded in the

layers of sediment deposited on the floor of the

bay over time;

• collaborate with researchers from the University

of Maryland, the Maryland Geological Survey,

and the Virginia Institute of Marine Science to

study the bay’s sediments;

• reconstructed trends and responses in the bay

since 1950 to determine the natural conditions in

the bay over the last few millennia, including

periods prior to 17th-18th century colonial

agriculture and 19th-20th century industrializa-

tion and urbanization;

• found a linkage between climate and land quality

and habitat loss in the bay;

• continue to study trends in oxygen, nitrogen, and

phosphorus levels, phytoplankton, benthic

invertebrates, sedimentation, and biodiversity

with emphasis on separating natural versus

human causes of and responses to extreme

events.

Using Remote Sensing as a ResearchTool: Three Examples from NASA

Using the unique perspective from space, NASA

observes, monitors, and assesses large-scale

environmental processes, such as the oceans’

productivity.

AVIRIS Analysis of Chesapeake BayDuring 1997-1998, NASA’s Ames Research Center

performed a remote-sensing demonstration project

in collaboration with the Chesapeake Bay Program

(CBP). The CBP wanted to evaluate the use of

remote sensing in its monitoring program, hoping

that point measurements could be used with

satellite imagery to develop water quality data.

18

5



Previously, University of Maryland scientists had

explored the use of airborne remote sensing to

map chlorophyll concentration in the bay.

NASA’s AVIRIS (Airborne Visible InfraRed Imaging

Spectrometer) was chosen for the demonstration.

The objective of AVIRIS is to identify, measure, and

monitor Earth’s surface and atmosphere. Research

with AVIRIS seeks to understand global environ-

mental processes such as climate change. The

instrument flies aboard a NASA ER-2 airplane at an

altitude of about 20 kilometers.

It flew over the bay on August 17, 1997, and July 3,

1998. The data it collected allowed scientists to

estimate chlorophyll and suspended sediment

concentrations. These data were compared with

CBP shipboard measurements.

The 1998 flight identified submerged aquatic

vegetation (SAV). Scientists compared the satellite

images with aerial photography and found that

imagery analysis was useful in determining sea

grass distribution.

SeaWiFSFigures 3, 4, and 5 show views of Chesapeake Bay

from the SeaWiFS (Sea-Viewing Wide Field-of-

View Sensor). Figure 3 shows data taken on

September 16, 1997, and Figures 4 and 5 record

data from September 19, 1997. SeaWiFS data

allow assessment of global vegetation patterns,

both land and ocean, needed to understand

ecosystems and global change. The SeaWiFS

instrument observes the oceans from space to

measure “ocean color.” SeaWiFS is essential to

NASA’s efforts to study how the global environment

is changing.

SeaWiFS observes Earth from a noontime sun-

synchronous orbit, which means that the sensor

always views Earth around local noon at an altitude

of 705 kilometers. This orbit provides data at the

maximum solar illumination, the most desirable for

detecting concentrations of phytoplankton, which

live just beneath the ocean surface. These green

plants absorb sunlight during photosynthesis.

Figure 3: SeaWiFS data from September 16, 1997Source: http://seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEAWIFS/IMAGES/SEAWIFS/revised_ocean_color_and_land_4096x1024.jpg

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In Figure 3, the red colors show high

concentrations of chlorophyll in the water,

the yellows/greens indicate intermediate

concentrations of chlorophyll, and the

blues/purples show low concentrations of

chlorophyll. The black swaths indicate no

data because of gaps between the orbits.

On Earth, coverage is every two days.

The two images of Chesapeake Bay offer

SeaWiFS high-resolution data obtained

over the mid-Atlantic on September 19,

1997. Figure 4 highlights vegetation

associated with the coastal plain and

mountain ridges and valleys. White areas

are clouds and dense aerosols. Note that

ocean features are not noticeable.

In Figure 5, ocean patterns are evident,

such as plumes of material discharging

out of Delaware Bay. Red and yellow

areas in Chesapeake Bay indicate turbid

(sediment filled) waters, while the blue

hues offshore represent clear oceanic

water. Black areas, such as in the right

bottom corner, are locations where the

processing could not be completed.

Figure 4: SeaWiFS, September 19, 1997, NewYork—Chesapeake Bay, true color

Figure 5: SeaWiFS, September 19, 1997, NewYork—Chesapeake Bay showing oceanradiancehttp://seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEAWIFS/IMAGES/SEAWIFS/

ches_combined.jpg

http://seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov/~grey/slides/october97.html

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LANDSATLANDSAT (Land Remote Sensing Satellite) is

designed to gather data on Earth’s resources in a

regular and systematic manner. It collects informa-

tion related to land use, geological and mineralogi-

cal exploration, crop and forestry assessment, and

cartography. The image in Figure 6 was produced

by LANDSAT 7 to assess the amount of different

land cover types in the bay region, including

residential development, wetlands, forests, and

crop lands.

The maps produced from LANDSAT will help make

estimates of polluted river runoff flowing into the

bay by identifying pasture land and different types

of crops. The amount of nutrient pollution entering

the bay can be measured by knowing the area of a

type of land cover and estimating the average

water quality of runoff from that type of land.

Heavily fertilized agricultural fields, for example,

produce higher levels of nutrients in runoff than the

same acreage of pasture land.

The image and maps also distinguish low- and

high-density residential development from wetlands

and different types of forest. These images will

allow smarter land use planning and better esti-

mates of polluted water runoff across the water-

shed.

References

Information on the AVIRIS mission

http://geo.arc.nasa.gov/sge/johnson/epa/chesbay.html

Information on the SeaWiFS mission

http://seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov/~grey/slides/october97.html

Oblique view of Chesapeake Bay watershed and surrounding

region

http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/imagewall/SeaWiFS/

zoom_chesapeake.jpg

QuickTime movie locating the Chesapeake Bay

http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/imagewall/SeaWiFS/

zoom_chesapeake.mov

USGS Chesapeake Bay web site

http://earth.jsc.nasa.gov/

Shuttle images of Earth

http://mapping.usgs.gov/mac/chesbay/index.html

Poster image of the Chesapeake Bay watershed

http://mapping.usgs.gov/mac/chesbay/poster.html

Site for Chesapeake Bay ecosystem background information

http://geochange.er.usgs.gov/pub/info/facts/chesapeake/

Resource site developed by the Chesapeake Bay Program

http://www.chesapeakebay.net/

Look up your community’s watershed at this site

http://www.epa.gov/surf2/locate/

Site for population data

http://www.chesapeakebay.net/pop.htm

Site for human use background information

http://www.chesapeakebay.net/landscape.htm

USGS FactSheet FS-116-00. September 2000. “Effects of

Climate Variability and Human Activity on Chesapeake

Bay and the Implications for Ecosystem Restoration.”

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Figure 6: LANDSAT 7 image showing land cover types in Chesapeake Bay areaincluding residential development, wetlands, forests, and croplands

Documents

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